Sydney is FIVE!

Yesterday our first baby turned five-years old -- happy birthday, Sydney Jo!

On one hand it's hard to believe, but on the other, it's completely believable that five years have already passed.  I won't say that Sydney is "exactly like me," because she's not, she's her own person, but she and I are definitely cut from the same cloth.  It makes our mother-daughter relationship both a breeze and a wee bit frustrating.  A breeze in that I feel like I really know her and where's she's coming from, and a wee bit frustrating in that...well, you know how it can be in the company of someone who is exactly like you (picture proverbial head butting).  I told my mom (who is in town visiting -- more on that later) that absolutely nothing that Sydney does or says surprises me, but sometimes I look at Lorelei (who is NOT exactly like me) and I think, "Who are you?! What's going on in that little head of yours?"

Anyway.

Sydney is five, and she is a terrific little girl.  Smart, funny, helpful, silly, precise, and with a memory like a steel trap.  Some of her favorite things include:
1. Performing hand motions to songs in the children's church choir
2. Picking up her brother and sister
3. Diapering and dressing her dolls and stuffed animals
4. Drawing pictures for and writing notes to who anyone who may cross her mind
5. Mastering the remote control

She goes to preschool (Pre-K, technically) four mornings a week, Monday through Thursday.  She used to take gymnastics, and loves and misses it.  She goes to ballet class on Friday afternoons, and especially loves learning the routine the class will perform at the May recital.  She doesn't nap very often anymore (since she has proven she can control her tiredness by not having meltdowns at the end of the day), but I usually make her nap on Thursday afternoons.  I tell her it's because she needs to rest up for ballet the next day, ha.

It's impossible to tell you all about Sydney in a single blog post, so we'll end things here.  Chet and I can now say our children are 5, 3, and 1, which is sort of fun and a lot more streamlined than "4 1/2, just turned 3, and 9 months."  Sydney is the best first born and oldest sibling for our family (duh!  God doesn't make mistakes!), and we love her more each day!